Tech News Roundup for March 1, 2022
Somehow, March is here. I don’t understand either. Here are a few of the tech stories I’ve found interesting over the last couple days. Short one tonight, as this is going up late.
Twitter Gives Users Ability to Mark Individual Posts as Sensitive Content
Twitter has long had the capability of marking content as sensitive for whatever reason or another, but that was applied at an account level, meaning users who posted what the platform considers “sensitive” content had to either have every tweet marked as that and hidden by default, or risk Twitter suspending accounts.
Now the company is allowing users to mark individual posts as sensitive content without putting the entire account behind that tag. This is a good change.
Oppo Demonstrates 150W Charging for Phones
Charging speed on phones is the current great battle, especially among OEMs based in Asia. Oppo, a company based in China, is showing off a 150W charging solution, which is fast enough to charge a phone battery from 0 to 50 percent in just 5 minutes. There are questions as to whether or not this is actually good for the batteries, but the technology itself is cool. Whether or not it makes it into a product, and whether or not that product’s battery lasts more than a year is a question.
NASA’s Artemis Program Will Cost over $4 Billion USD Per Launch
The headline says it all, and shows everything wrong with the government run space program in the US. The Artemis program has turned into an exercise in creating jobs in several US states, and not about making the best rocket at a price that is sustainable. SpaceX currently produces rockets that are only 60% as capable as the Space Launch System, but for less than 5% of the price per launch. It is stunning to see. Even when presented with the information, members of the US congress seem more concerned about the jobs in their state and districts than the actual cost of the program itself.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/nasa-inspector-general-says-sls-costs-are-unsustainable/
More on The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Just a few more things I want to highlight in the Technology space related to the invasion of Ukraine
Apple Halts Device Sales in Russia
YouTube has blocked Russian State Media Channel RT
After Ukraine issues calls for an “IT army” Several Russian Websites go Dark