Tesla whistleblower demands public apology, Apple loses smartphone crown
A Tesla whistleblower who has battled Elon Musk and his company through the courts for a decade tells BBC News she is still seeking a public apology. No other interview about a tech giant has made me cry. But towards the end of our Zoom call, when former Tesla engineer Cristina Balan dramatically removes her wig and tearfully tells me she has just finished breast-cancer treatment – and is now fighting, as a single mother, for both her life and her reputation, it’s impossible not to feel her emotion….Ms Balan has been waiting a long time. Until 2014, she was a rising star within the electric-car company in the US. BBC
A month after specifications for the PS5 Pro console were leaked by a YouTuber, Sony has made it clear they are real after issuing a copyright claim. While Sony hasn’t officially confirmed that the PS5 Pro console exists, it essentially has now, after taking action against a video with leaked details. In March this year, YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead obtained a document with specifications about the revamped PS5 – including 45% faster rendering performance, a GPU with 33.5 teraflops, and the inclusion of Sony’s new in-house upscaling technology called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
Virtual reality headsets will not be used in schools under a new Meta scheme unless teachers can monitor what pupils are doing, Sir Nick Clegg has said amid growing concerns about child safety in the metaverse. Mr Clegg said: “This is not going to be used in the classroom unless teachers feel they have complete visibility and control of what’s going on. “And crucially, that parents, particularly of the younger kids, feel that too, otherwise, why would you use this in an educational setting?” Sky News
Apple has lost its spot as the world’s biggest mobile phone seller after a steep sales drop as South Korean rival Samsung retook the lead in the global market share. Samsung had been the biggest seller of mobile phones for 12 years until the end of 2023, when sales of Apple’s iPhone models overtook it. Global smartphone shipments increased by 8% to 289.4m units during January-March, according to research firm IDC. Samsung won a 20.8% market share, beating Apple’s 17.3% share, which has been dented by slowing sales in China. The Guardian
Adobe is working on a generative AI video model for its Firefly family that will bring new tools to its Premiere Pro video editing platform. These new Firefly tools — alongside some proposed third-party integrations with Runway, Pika Labs, and OpenAI’s Sora models — will allow Premiere Pro users to generate video and add or remove objects using text prompts (just like Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature) and extend the length of video clips. The Verge
As part of Milan design week, IKEA has launched a collection of gaming furniture designed to subvert the genre’s stereotypical “cyberpunk-y” look. The Brännboll collection includes 20 pieces of seating, storage and various accessories designed to make at-home gameplay more immersive while blending into the home when not in use.
Among them is a spill-proof coaster, IKEA‘s first successful attempt at inflatable furniture and a modern version of a rocking chair that moves with the player. The collection was based on the insight that the number of gamers worldwide reached 3.3 billion in 2023, which according to IKEA makes it “the world’s largest hobby”. Dezeen
