Hello there! Welcome to another edition of the weekly roundup of global tech news. Last week was almost all about Elon Musk.
Elon Musk is the founder of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla and CEO of Twitter. Until recently he was the world’s richest man, now his net worth is $188.2 billion. Known for his organised and orderly way of getting things done that he sets out to achieve, the South African billionaire witnessed one of the most bizarre weeks this year.
The test launch of one of the most talked-about Starship rockets by his company, SpaceX, went into flames mid-flight a few days ago. This was after several years of committed resources and planning.
Also, this week, Tesla shares nosedived the lowest in more than three months, thus making Tesla Model 3 and Model Y cars cheaper. However, to recoup the loss in shares, Tesla increased the US prices of Model S and Model X vehicles
But, it didn’t stop there for ‘Musk and companies’; Twitter this week finally removed all legacy blue checkmarks for users. Amongst the notable profiles and individuals whose checkmarks disappeared include Cristiano Ronaldo, Jack Dorsey, and Aymeric Laporte with several reactions trailing the decision.
Away from Musk now, Apple launched its Apple savings account for customers in the US to save and earn interest on their savings. It said it would be offering a 4.15% interest rate.
If you missed the major bits of the biggest news this week, sit back and enjoy this read. We have curated this roundup so that you do not miss those important details.
Summary of the Bulletin
- SpaceX orbital launch attempt of its Starship rocket ends in flames
- Twitter removes all legacy blue checkmarks
- Apple launches Apple Card’s savings accounts
- Bing is set to replace Google as the default search service on Samsung devices
- Meta sacks 4000 more
Read also: Uber sells 50.03% of its stake in Careem
SpaceX rocket launch ends in flames
After receiving numerous criticisms for his management style and methods recently, Musk and his firms had a dramatic and awful week that was capped off by the spectacular explosion of SpaceX’s new Starship rocket moments after it took off on its first flight test.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its Starship rocket for the first time on Thursday, but it failed to reach space due to an explosion mid-flight. There was no crew on board.
Media coverage of the eagerly awaited launch was dominated by images of the Starship spinning out of control while attached to its Super Heavy rocket booster before the entire vehicle exploded.
It is the largest and most potent rocket ever built and is a product of years of regulatory effort and technological testing for SpaceX.
The company made a first go at getting this launch off the ground on Monday, but a pressure valve in the Super Heavy booster apparently froze. SpaceX teams worked to resolve a number of unidentified issues to make a second attempt possible Thursday, CNBC reports.
SpaceX leadership repeatedly stressed the experimental nature of the launch and said any result that involved Starship getting off the launchpad would be a success. The rocket flew for nearly 4 minutes and successfully separated from the Super Heavy booster, a key in-flight milestone, before suffering what the company called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
Rather than being viewed as a setback, experts claimed the rocket ship’s tragic destruction would enhance the vehicle’s development.
Twitter removes all legacy blue checkmarks
Notable organisations and individuals on Friday woke up to see their verification checkmarks gone from their Twitter accounts after Twitter finally made true to its words to remove all legacy checkmarks this month.
The microblogging platform had previously encouraged all users to subscribe to Twitter Blue to enjoy some of its premium benefits, including the verification badge, as Elon Musk hopes to generate more income since he took over at the helm.
Many Tweeps reacted to removing the verification badges from the profiles of popular individuals, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Jack Dorsey, and Aymeric Laporte. The Manchester City defender seemed particularly surprised at losing his blue tick.
However, in a surprising move, some other accounts did not experience such a fate. Popular amongst them are Lebron James and Stephen King. Elon Musk later admitted to footing their Twitter Blue subscription bills — not that they asked.
Apple launches Apple Card’s savings accounts
Apple has launched an Apple Card savings account that offers users a 4.15% interest rate but to its U.S subscribers.
TechCrunch reports that the company originally announced the new financial product back in October, but Apple said that it couldn’t share what interest rate would be paid out on these accounts because rates were fluctuating.
Apple will now, however, offer an APY of 4.15%. According to Bankrate data, there are savings accounts with APYs ranging from 3.5% to 4.75%, which appears to be a competitive offering. Regarding future interest rates, the firm is not promising anything. At any moment, it could rise or fall.
Apple has again teamed up with Goldman Sachs for the financial product. Technically, Goldman Sachs is in charge of managing savings accounts. Therefore, any balances are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. (FDIC).
Bing is set to replace Google search on Samsung devices
This week, The New Times reported that Samsung, one of the world’s largest phone makers, is eyeing a switch from Google to Microsoft Bing. The move would see Microsoft-made Bing replace Alphabet Inc.’s Google as the default search service on Samsung devices.
The reports say this could reduce Google’s annual revenue by around $3 billion.
As reported by IDC data, Samsung shipped 261 million smartphones in 2022 and has a long-standing collaboration with Microsoft and Google. The Suwon-based company’s devices come pre-installed with a stack of apps and services from Microsoft and Google, including OneDrive and Google Maps.
By establishing itself as one of the tech pivots fanning the flames of Ai by adding OpenAI’s technology to provide ChatGPT-like responses to user queries, Bing has emerged to be a stronger competitor to Google’s search dominance.
The deliberation to replace Google Search with Bing is still in the works, and Samsung is far from reaching a final resolution to its plan to sustain its partnership with Google, making it its default provider.
Meta sacks 4000 more
When the layoff season started, we initially hoped it would be a one-off thing, especially when the first layoff made by Meta. When it laid off 11,000 employees a few months ago, Mark Zuckerberg, its CEO and founder said it was a needed drive towards making the platform efficient.
“We’ve cut costs across our business, including scaling back budgets, reducing perks, and shrinking our real estate footprint. We’re restructuring teams to increase our efficiency…”
Mark Zuckerberg
But now, the same company has laid off 4000 more workers. Although not disclosed yet, we can infer that the move is part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s initial plan to restructure teams and work towards the company’s “goal of greater efficacy” in 2023.
In a memo seen by Bloomberg, affected parties of this decision would include members of staff working at Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Quest hardware and Reality Labs, which houses the company’s virtual reality effort.
“This will be a difficult time as we say goodbye to friends and colleagues who have contributed so much to Meta,” Lori Goler, the company’s head of people, said in the memo.
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