ShinyShiny snippets: Microsoft claims block on Activision purchase ‘bad for Britain’
Microsoft’s president has attacked the UK after it was blocked from buying US gaming firm Activision, saying the EU was a better place to start a business. The move was “bad for Britain” and marked Microsoft’s “darkest day” in its four decades of working in the country, Brad Smith told the BBC. The regulator hit back saying it had to do what’s best for people, “not merging firms with commercial interests”. The UK’s move means the multi-billion dollar deal cannot go ahead globally. The gaming industry’s biggest-ever takeover worth $68.7bn (£55bn) would see Microsoft get hold of massively popular games titles such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and World of Warcraft. BBC
Elon Musk has been ordered to be interviewed under oath to determine if he made specific statements about Tesla’s Autopilot feature after the carmaker threw their authenticity into doubt, saying the billionaire was often a target of online “deepfakes”. A judge in California made the tentative ruling after raising concerns that such arguments could be used by Musk – and other high-profile celebrities – to “avoid taking ownership” of their public statements. The “deepfake” claim was made by lawyers for Musk’s firm while defending a lawsuit brought over the safety of Tesla‘s driver assistance system. Sky News
Shares in Facebook’s parent company Meta soared last night as it broke a losing streak to post its first rise in sales in a year. The social media giant reported a 3pc increase in quarterly revenues to $28.6bn (£23bn), shrugging off Wall Street projections that it would post a fourth straight drop in revenue. However, profits fell by 24pc and the company revealed a big drop in sales at its virtual reality division, showing that Mark Zuckerberg’s expensive bet on the metaverse is stuttering. Telegraph
This looks to be a big year for foldable phones, with the Google Pixel Fold expected to land and OnePlus also working on its first foldable. But it’ll potentially be less significant for Samsung, because the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 will reportedly be very similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4. We might, however, see much bigger changes with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. This is according to leaker @Tech_Reve (via Android Police), who claimed – in response to a leak about the Z Fold 5 having near identical dimensions to the Z Fold 4 – that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 will have a “major form factor change.” Tech Radar
Tesla has lost $143 billion in market value in the last 26 days as Elon Musk has announced aggressive price cuts and failed to hit predicted first-quarter delivery rates. The company has cut prices seven times this year, with the latest being the Model Y that is now cheaper than the average US vehicle – it now costs $46,990, $759 less than the typical car or truck. And the previous cut was the $62,990 Model 3, which saw a $22,000 decrease. Tesla was also expected to deliver 432,000 vehicles for the quarter, but fell short by more than 9,000 units. Daily Mail
The value of electric vehicles is depreciating at twice the rate of petrol cars – with EVs losing more than half their value in just three years. The study, commissioned by used car buying service ChooseMyCar.com, shows that EVs on average will lose 51 percent of their purchase value from 2020 to 2023, compared to just 37 percent for petrol vehicles. This equates to a loss of £15,220 loss for EV owners, while petrol vehicles lose £9,901. Clearly, the higher the original purchase, the bigger the loss, with the Tesla S model losing £25,000 in value in just three years. Tech Digest
