Shinyshiny snippets: Elon Musk will not join Twitter board
Elon Musk has decided not to join the board of Twitter, the company’s chief executive Parag Agrawal says. Mr Musk’s appointment was due to become effective on Saturday after revealing last week that he had bought a 9.2% stake in the social media platform. However, Mr Agrawal tweeted: “Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board.” The Tesla boss remains Twitter’s largest shareholder and the firm will remain open to his input, he added. Just over an hour after Mr Agrawal’s announcement, Mr Musk cryptically tweeted a single emoji. The tweet has since been deleted. BBC
The developers of a new app that uses AI to estimate the speed of a passing car say they have been forced into anonymity by the vicious response from drivers. The app, Speedcam Anywhere, is the product of a team of AI scientists with backgrounds in Silicon Valley companies and top UK universities. Its creators hope it will encourage police to take speeding more seriously and enable residents, pedestrians and cyclists to document traffic crimes in their area. But since it launched in March, the vitriol levied at the team is such that they are afraid of sharing their real identities. “We’re getting quite abusive emails,” said Sam, the app’s founder, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s a Marmite product – some people think it’s a good idea, some people think that it turns us into a surveillance state. Guardian
Google and iFixit have announced a partnership to supply spare parts for Pixel smartphones. In blog posts, the pair explain that the initiative will begin later this year for the Pixel 2 series onwards, including last year’s Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Google promises to provide parts to iFixit for ‘future Pixel models’, too. While Google has not commented on what its next Pixel devices will be, the Pixel 6a is expected to land first, possibly at Google I/O 2022. Additionally, Google is rumoured to have scheduled Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel Watch releases for October; a launch date for the first foldable Pixel smartphone remains unknown at this stage. NotebookCheck
Three multimillionaire businessmen have docked and entered the International Space Station in what has been hailed as a milestone for commercial space exploration. Alongside a retired NASA astronaut, the men launched from Florida on Friday as part of a private SpaceX launch. The four men were welcomed onboard the ISS on Saturday by the crew there as NASA joins Russia in hosting guests at the world’s most expensive tourist destination. The American, Canadian and Israeli businessmen each paid $55m (£42m) for the rocket ride and accommodation. The launch, codenamed Ax-1, was commissioned by Axiom Space, a US space infrastructure developer. Sky News
Britain’s information watchdog is investigating claims that Apple was able to access personal information on workers’ phones after a privacy complaint was lodged by a whistleblower. Ashley Gjøvik, a former senior Apple engineer, has filed a 54-page privacy complaint against the iPhone maker alleging unlawful data collection and invasion of employee privacy over “years and multiple countries”. In the filing, which has been lodged with the UK Data Protection Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and its counterpart in Brussels, Ms Gjøvik claimed that she publicly expressed concerns about Apple “pressuring its employees to participate in invasive data collection procedures, including scans of ears/ear canals”. Telegraph
