After a long weekend, there generally isn’t much to talk about in the technology space. But that presents a good chance for me to go back and look at some of the things I missed while I was away last week. Here are a few of the things I’ve been interested in over the past week or so.
Apple Announces Event for September 14th
There will be a presentation from Apple next week, on September 14th. Apple traditionally releases iPhones and Apple Watches in September, so it is a good bet that is what we will see at this event. Much more to come on this once the event is over.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/7/22648593/apple-fall-event-2021-date-iphone-macbook-watch
Bell Taking Quebecor to Court Over Spectrum Auction
Quebecor, as the name might suggest, is a telecom company that only operates in the province of Quebec. However, during this summer’s wireless spectrum auction, the company won the rights to several licenses in Western Canada. Smaller operators like Quebecor and Sasktel were given preferential treatment in the auction and were able to purchase licenses at significantly lower prices than Bell, Telus, and Rogers were able to, leading Bell to claim that Quebecor should not have been able to purchase discounted licenses in areas that it does not operate.
I will be very interested to see where this one goes.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/08/27/bell-taking-quebecor-to-court-over-spectrum-auction-results/
Apple is Delaying Controversial Content Scanning Features
After weeks of pressure from experts in the security field, Apple has finally relented, and is pausing the rollout of the system that would scan photos on user’s devices, and scan messages in iMessage. The company says it will work with the security community to improve the system and try to ensure it is as secure as possible.
Microsoft Start is a new Portal for News Across Microsoft Platforms
Microsoft Start is a new personalized news feed experience from the tech giant. The new platform replaces Microsoft News and MSN news, and will be integrated into Windows 10 and Windows 11, Microsoft Edge, as well as on Android and iOS through an update to the Microsoft News app.
The new Windows Start has already rolled out to mobile, it looks very clean and modern on Android. MSN news was and is still a big online presence, and the new tab page in Edge goes to a MSN news experience by default, so the new Microsoft Start should get decent visibility by default.
Texas Abortion Law “Whistleblower” Website Has Been Taken Down by two Hosts
The provisions in the Texas abortion law that allow a form of vigilantism has resulted in several groups bringing up websites and phone lines to encourage “whitleblowers.” One of the higher profile sites was profilewhistleblower.com. When it first launched, there was a campaign on TikTok to overwhelm it with false information, which seemed to be succeeding. Then, just a couple days after launch GoDaddy, which the site was hosted on, informed the website that it was being taken down for violation of GoDaddy’s terms of service, specifically collecting personal information of people without their knowledge. After a couple of days offline, the website came back, this time on Epik, a platform that hosts other controversial websites like 8chan. However, Epik also has terms of service which prevent the collection of personal information without someone’s knowledge, and Epik took the website down. As of this writing, that URL redirects to the official Texas Right to Life website.
Considering that Epik is the host for sites like Parler stay online, the fact that even it wants nothing to do with this group and website is telling.