This week on IQMZ Tech:

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is imposing fines totaling nearly $200 million on the largest US mobile carriers for allegedly illegally sharing customers’ location data without their consent. The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Tesla CEO Elon Musk regarding his "Twitter sitter" case. Musk had an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that required an in-house lawyer to pre-approve his social media posts about Tesla Inc. Musk argued that this agreement, which was signed in 2018, now infringes on his constitutional right to free speech. However, the justices refused to hear these claims and left the agreement intact. In a surprising turn, Jack Dorsey has resigned from the board of his social networking startup, Bluesky. This news comes just as he publicly endorsed Elon Musk's X, referring to it as "freedom technology." Dorsey had been a strong advocate for Bluesky after selling his other co-founded social network, Twitter, to Musk. TikTok has initiated a federal lawsuit to challenge a new law that mandates either a sale or ban of the app, implying a potential legal battle concerning national security and freedom of speech in this era of worldwide information warfare. The lawsuit, filed with a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., aims to obtain a court order to prevent the U.S. from enforcing the bipartisan law that President Biden signed last month. Nintendo, the Japanese video game company, has announced that it will reveal plans for a successor to its popular Switch home console before March 2025. The announcement comes as the company reports a 13% increase in profit for the fiscal year ending in March, largely driven by the demand for Switch software. However, details about the new product, including its launch timeline, remain undisclosed. Disney CEO, Bob Iger, announced on Tuesday that by the end of 2024, Disney+ will feature select live games and studio shows from ESPN. This move follows successful early results from adding Hulu programming to Disney+. Iger sees this as a precursor to the launch of an enhanced standalone ESPN streaming service in Fall 2025. U.S. prosecutors are currently investigating whether Tesla, guided by CEO Elon Musk, committed securities or wire fraud by potentially misleading investors and consumers about the self-driving capabilities of its electric vehicles. This investigation centers around Tesla's Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems, which, despite assisting with steering, braking, and lane changes, are not completely autonomous. The Justice Department is particularly interested in statements from Tesla and Musk that insinuate full self-driving capability. Apple's new iPad Pro with the M4 chip brings a number of major improvements, but there are a few points to consider. The ultra-wide camera has been removed from the rear camera module in this generation. Additionally, the 10-core CPU, which Apple has emphasized for its performance increase, is only available in the 1 TB and 2 TB iPad Pro models. Lower storage iPads will feature a 9-core CPU and half the RAM. Reddit's shares surged by 11% in premarket trading following the release of its first quarterly results since its IPO in March. The company reported a loss per share of $8.19, with revenues of $243 million, a 48% increase from the previous year. For the second quarter, Reddit anticipates revenue between $240 million and $255 million, exceeding analysts' expectations. CEO Steve Huffman described this as the "beginning of a new chapter" for the company. Google DeepMind has unveiled AlphaFold 3, the latest version of their revolutionary machine learning model that predicts protein structures and behaviors. The updated model is not only more precise but can also anticipate interactions with other biomolecules, enhancing its utility as a research tool.

Joe Rogan Stern

IQMZ TechBy Owen JJ Stone a.k.a. OhDoctahFeb 21, 2022