Google Calendars scrap Black History month, UK universities face deepfake applicants
Google’s online and mobile calendars are no longer including references to Black History Month, Women’s History Month and LGBTQ+ holidays, among other events. The world’s biggest search engine previously marked the beginning of Black History Month in February and Pride Month in June, but the events do not appear for 2025. The removal of the holidays was first reported by the Verge last week. A Google spokesperson, Madison Cushman Veld, provided the Guardian with a statement that said the listed holidays were not “sustainable” for their model. The Guardian
Elon Musk joined Donald Trump in the Oval Office as the US president signed an executive order allowing the tech billionaire to make large-scale reductions in the federal workforce. As head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory group, Mr Musk says he wants to add “common sense controls” to government and ensure taxpayer money is spent wisely. The executive order requires government agencies to work with DOGE, in some cases so they can be “eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law”. Sky News
A new set of leaked Pixel 9A renders appears to confirm months of rumors that Google is virtually ditching the camera bump this year. The images, published by Android Headlines, also show the phone in four colors — black (Obsidian), white (Porcelain), pink (Peony), and purple (Iris) — will look like. Smartphones that lay flat on a table have mostly become a distant memory now that phone makers have embraced the camera bump. That makes these Pixel 9A renders especially exciting, even if there’s still the barest hint of a bump when viewed from the side. The Verge
British universities seeking to save time and money by automating their interviews with international students face a new threat: “deepfake” applicants. Enroly, a software platform used by a number of universities to automate their application processes, said it had uncovered something “straight out of a sci-fi film” after catching a small number of candidates using deepfake technology to record their online interviews. A deepfake uses artificial intelligence-generated images or audio to replace faces and voices, allowing applicants to replace their words or accent with a more fluent version. The Guardian
Samsung’s unexpected new device line, the Galaxy S25 Edge, could launch earlier than expected. Tech reporter Max Jambor posted on X that Samsung will release the Galaxy S25 Edge in Q2, which means an April, May, or June launch. The device will almost certainly land this year and more than likely very soon. Samsung is unlikely to launch a new handset too close to when the Galaxy S26 releases next January, or the next round of foldable phones in the summer. A spring release gives the device enough time to breathe before other Samsung phones take the limelight. Forbes
70mai has unveiled the Omni 4K dash cam, a next-gen upgrade of the world’s first 360-degree dash cam, and it delivers a host of meaningful improvements. Chief among them is 4K / 60p video support – that’s a big jump from the original Omni’s 1080p recording. There’s also a new 1080p rear camera, meaning support for dual-channel recording, although with both cameras in action the front rotating camera’s recording capabilities drop to 4K / 30p. We loved the original model and awarded it 4-stars in our 70mai Omni Dash cam review. Tech Radar
