Online Magazine
Tech News Amuse
October 2022
Have you heard that the Swiss Football Association wants to reach the European top through data analysis? That ETH students are developing a virtual locker room and 6 out of 7 mushroom identification apps are deficient? If not, it's time for the satirical tech news overview of the month October.
by Tabea Ulla Thor
October was a cheerful month with August temperatures and probably inspired even the most convinced couch potato to regularly get their dose of vitamin D during a short walk outside the door. For some, the pulse and pedometer may have shot up to such an unusual level that there was hardly any energy left to fiddle with the beloved smartphone and click through the news on the sofa after returning home.
But no worries! After all, that's what our Tech News Amuse is for – an overview of all relevant and interesting news of the past month!
Our tech news overview of October:
Visitors to the World Cup in Qatar have to accept that they are spied on
This takes the form of two mandatory apps that require access to a lot of cell phone data: A Qatari version of the Corona warning app and a World Cup app that also manages tickets to the stadium.
The Corona protection is particularly important to the organizers. After all, they don't want anyone to come to harm in one of the World Cup stadiums.
iPhone users are shown more advertising
Apparently, Apple is planning to place more ads in its own apps – beginning with the Appstore.
It is questionable, however, whether Apple users, of all people, can be influenced by fancy advertising.
In EU countries USB-C connection is mandatory from 2024 onwards
The rule will apply to electrical devices in the cell phone, tablet, and headphone category, as well as laptops a little later on.
Apple is already planning to launch a USB-C to Lightning adapter so they can continue selling their own chargers.
More than one in three Swiss have an old cell phone in their drawer
According to a survey by "Verkaufen.ch", 37.6% of participants still own an old, functioning smartphone.
This would not be a problem in Germany: there, such things can usually be sold without any problems on Ebay after 12 insulting messages and 4 people who, despite accepting, simply do not pick up the device.
ETH students present virtual changing room
The tool uses a full-body photo to create a customized virtual avatar that tries on clothes to reduce returns.
Millions of teenagers wonder how long their arm needs to be to manage to fit their whole body in the photo.
MORE TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
Apart from the virtual locker room, there are several other innovations in the world of technology that are currently making waves.
What are they and what is their impact? Read it in this blog!
6 out of 7 mushroom identification apps are deficient
The apps in some cases designated deadly mushrooms as edible.
We can confirm the test result: all 5 apps we tested mistook our foot fungus for a bay bolete.
Musk wants to fire 75% of Twitter employees
According to a potential investor, Musk wants to reduce the workforce from 7500 to about 2000 employees after the takeover.
Apparently, Musk is also unsure whether he wants to keep the platform at all after the back and forth during the purchase.
Google to discontinue Stadia cloud gaming service in January 2023
This means that the service will be discontinued after around three years due to a lack of interest.
Funnily enough, the concept of letting users pay for both the games and the platform in the form of a subscription did not pay off for Google in the end.
EU Parliament tightens leash on tech giants
With the Digital Service Act (DSA), the European Union decides, among other things, that platforms such as Facebook or Twitter must take more decisive action against hate speech.
The following shitstorm on all social media platforms against the CoRrUpTe EI-PaRliAmEnT iN bRuSSeLs WaS gIgAnTiC!1!!!1!ELEVEN!11!!!!
Lenovo presents hologram conference system
Colleagues can now meet for meetings as a three-dimensional projection instead of two-dimensional tiles.
Before it is ready for the market, Lenovo promises to also install a filter for sweatpants and other home office clothing similar to the changeable backgrounds in classic conference tools.
Switzerland is once again the most innovative country in the world
With this, Switzerland leads the ranking for the twelfth time in a row.
Germany has not been included on this index since the foundation of Deutsche Bahn.
SPEAKING OF INNOVATIVE MINDS ...
... Valentin Bickel from ETH Zurich uses AI to make previously undiscovered areas of the moon visible. Read it here!
... Katia Murmann uses an algorithm to ensure equality in the media. To the interview!
... Elodie Briefer uses technology to interpret the emotional state of pigs. Find out more!
The Federal Council launches its own Instagram account
This way, they specifically want to appeal to younger citizens.
No, we don't yet know which new, cool platform the young people will now take refuge on instead.
Expert thinks panic about deepfake scams is exaggerated
According to them, deepfakes are not even necessary, because most people are still naive enough to fall for classic phishing measures even without fake videos.
Phew, that's good to ... Wait a minute, that's not reassuring at all!
EU wants to make real-time transfers easier and cheaper
For example, money transfers within seconds are to cost the same as standard SEPA transfers.
What's still unclear is how banks are supposed to transfer entire multi-digit numerical values from one account to another within seconds without any fees.
WhatsApp temporarily down worldwide
For over two hours, it was not possible to send or receive messages with Meta's Messenger.
Numerous people actually had to walk back to the next room to communicate with their partner.
Swiss Football League wants to reach the European top with data analysis
Among other things, the training and promotion of new talents is to be optimized with the help of large amounts of data from 1400 clubs and 310,000 members.
Meanwhile, all the successes of Swiss teams in European competitions are to be stored on a remaining 3.5'' disk.
The Format
*Our "Feuill-IT-on" format is created in collaboration with the two freelance writers Tobias Lauterbach und Daniel Al-Kabbani who occasionally contribute to the satire platform "Der Postillon". Under the pseudonyms Strigalt von Entf, and Tabea Ulla Thor they report on current events from the world of technology – always with a wink! ;-)
