ShinyShiny snippets: Dyson air-purifier headphones to set you back £749
Dyson has announced that its Dyson Zone air purifying headphones will indeed be on sale in early 2023 as rumoured. Prices start from $949/£749. Note the ‘start from’ – Dyson says that exact pricing will be confirmed closer to launch. The crazy headphones go on sale from January in China and March in the US, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Singapore. We got to check out the Dyson Zone back in March 2022 and we said at the time they were the “wildest gadget we’d ever tried”. Dyson has clearly improved the noise cancellation since our initial go with them and has also now confirmed a bunch more spec details. Stuff
Microsoft has entered into a 10-year agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles, following its plan to acquire the game’s publisher. Microsoft wants to buy Activision Blizzard, which also makes Overwatch and Warcraft, for $68.7bn (£56.5bn). The deal would enable Microsoft to stop Call of Duty from appearing on rival consoles, such as Sony’s PlayStation 5. The UK watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), says this could lessen competition in gaming. Microsoft says this is not the case, and is now offering the title to rivals – for a limited time. BBC
One of the latest features to be added to WhatsApp is a fun one: the ability to have a personalised avatar. We’ve already seen these in the likes of Facebook Messenger and Apple’s iMessage (and FaceTime), but now you’ll be able to create a cartoon likeness of you even if you use WhatsApp on an Android phone. You can then use it in chats to show your excitement, sadness or whatever else you’re feeling. Just open the app, tap the three dots in the top right corner and selecting Settings. Beneath the Account option you should see a new section called Avatar. Tech Advisor
TikTok is being sued by the US state of Indiana, alleging deception of its users about China’s access to their data. The short-form video app, which has more than one billion users worldwide, also exposes children to inappropriate content relating to sex and drugs, say lawsuits filed by the office of attorney general Todd Tokita. It comes as the platform faces heightened scrutiny over its Chinese roots, including in the UK, after an update to its privacy policy revealed that some overseas TikTok staff could access user data in specific circumstances. Sky News
Microsoft is reportedly considering turning its attention to an all-in-one “super app” that would see it challenging Apple and Google’s dominance in the mobile search space. According to reports by The Information, the app could combine shopping, messaging, web search, and news feeds, among potentially even more concepts, that will see it act as a single platform for most personal daily needs. Microsoft executives have apparently been looking for a solution to increase the company’s advertising business and its Bing search. Tech Radar
