Shiny snippets: Spotify raises prices, Twitter unveils new logo
Spotify is raising the price of its main monthly subscription for the first time in its 15-year history as it comes under pressure to boost payments to the music industry. The streaming service will charge users £10.99 a month for its premium service, up from the £9.99 it has been since launch. The Swedish company said it would also raise the price of a family subscription by £1 a month to £17.99. It comes amid growing pressure from record labels and artists over payouts to the industry and growing concerns that music generated by artificial intelligence represents a threat to musicians. The Telegraph
Afon Technology Ltd appears to be one of the more promising startups working on a painless and non-invasive CGM (continuous glucose monitor), with its device now being known as “Glucowear” as opposed to the former somewhat prosaic “Afon Blood Glucose Sensor“. The company was one of the exhibitors at the recent ADA’s 83rd Scientific Sessions where, it seems a prototype of the Glucowear monitor was on show along with cases, packaging, and a portable charging stand for the device. NotebookCheck
Twitter’s boss has unveiled the social media site’s new logo, featuring a white X on a black background, which will replace its blue bird. In a tweet on Monday morning, Linda Yaccarino said “X is here! Let’s do this.” “Tweets” will also be replaced, according to Twitter’s owner Elon Musk, and posts will be called “x’s”. The billionaire changed his profile picture to the new logo and added “X.com” to his Twitter bio. Mr Musk wants to create a “super app” called “X” – his vision for a new kind of social media platform that he has been talking about creating for months. BBC
Between the North Sea and west London, it’s been a bad week for green policy in the UK. While large parts of the world sweltered in record heat that focused minds squarely on the impact of climate change, the fragility of Britain’s green agenda was on stark display. Offshore wind has been the jewel in the crown of UK energy policy since early last decade, but as Vattenfall’s stark announcement over the future – or apparent lack of it – of the Norfolk Boreas project in the North Sea showed, something is going badly wrong. Recharge
It remains “all systems go” for Coventry’s proposed gigafactory despite new plans for a huge electric vehicle battery plant built in Somerset. There had been fears a proposed West Midlands Gigafactory might hit the skids given the sheer scale of Tata’s £4billion investment in the south-west. The new factory planned by Tata, owner of Coventry-based Jaguar Land Rover, is likely to have capacity to build around half of all the electric vehicle batteries needed in the UK. But Councillor Jim O’Boyle, the city’s jobs and regeneration boss said it was ‘definitely’ full steam ahead for the WMG. Coventry Live
US tech companies started the year in the doldrums, beset by a cost overhang from excessively zealous pandemic hiring sprees and fears about the impact of rising interest rates. Things were looking grim – then along came artificial intelligence (AI). Tech stocks and the blue-chip S&P 500 index have since been buoyed by breakthroughs in generative AI – led by the ChatGPT chatbot – and the promise of a new era of growth for the sector. The S&P 500 is up 18.6% so far in 2023 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is up 35.7%. The Guardian
