Daily Authority: Concept car time ????????

Car shows are back! Germany is playing host to fun new ideas at the 2021 IAA Mobility Event in Munich. It officially starts tomorrow but just like tech conferences, much of the good stuff is announced in pre-event launches.

And at the top of the list nowadays are electric vehicle and autonomous driving details and concepts, with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, VW, BMW, various startups, and so on, spilling out new concepts:

???? Pixel 3 phones are bricking left and right, no clear answer as to why, and the mode the phones fail into means there’s little that can be done for now (Android Authority).

???? Phone makers may be forced to provide seven years of updates in Germany, two years longer than the EU’s proposal (Android Authority).

???? Vivo X70 series specs leak: Three chips from three chipmakers (Android Authority).

???? Mark Gurman suggested Apple might announce its next major event as soon as this week, and suggested the coming Apple Watch Series 7 will be in tight supply which added weight to previous rumors (Bloomberg). 

???? Apple quietly postponed its CSAM scanning initiative on Friday night heading into a holiday, saying: “…we have decided to take additional time over the coming months to collect input and make improvements before releasing these critically important child safety features.”  (Android Authority). Over 100 policy and rights groups, including the EFF and American Civil Liberties Union, had asked Apple to recalibrate. One take said the issue was “Apple trying to solve a problem like this inside the Apple Park vacuum while adhering to its annual iOS release schedule.” iOS 15 is expected in the next few weeks. (TechCrunch).

???? Microsoft Excel continues to give gene scientists headaches: 30% of published papers contain mangled gene names, due to problems like SEPT4 (septin 4) and MARCH1 being automatically changed to 4-Sep and 1-Mar (Nature).

???? Dyson could be designing a robot vacuum helper thing that can climb stairs (Bloomberg).

???? A desk bike looks weird but per this review, “having a desk bike is actually pretty great.” Huh. (Ars Technica).

???? NASA starts flight testing with Joby’s electric air taxi or electric VTOL aircraft (Engadget).

???? Sony to offer free Horizon Forbidden West PS4 to PS5 upgrade after criticism (The Verge).

???? The Perseverance rover on Mars confirms it has collected and stored its first rock sample, after initial problems (CNET).

???? NASA’s helicopter on Mars, Ingenuity, has clocked up 12 flights and is going so well that its mission has been extended indefinitely, though the approaching Martian winter will be a challenge (ScienceAlert).

???? “Where does the CO2 absorbed by trees end up?” (r/askscience).

Or in text form:

// Paradoxically enough, moving as quickly as possible is 

// not necessarily desirable. Users tend to get frustrated 

// once they realize how little time their Mac really spends 

// to crush them at low levels. In the interest of promoting 

// harmonious Human – Machine relations, we enforce minimum

// response times.

Threatningly yours,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor