With the well-deserved end of the Internet Explorer, Microsoft has now MS crowned Edge as the browser of choice to download Chrome. And if you ever try to change your default browser on Windows 11, you will know why it is so.
Rather I think Google should take a step forward and make a program that ticks all the default app boxes to set Chrome as the default browser in just a click. But till the time that happens, we can’t deny that Edge is at least competing for the spot. So Microsoft making it a mammoth task to change your default browser might tilt the scale in its favor.
But that aside, a lot happened this week, and I’m going to quickly run you through the biggest tech news of the week in this weekly tech news roundup.
Weekly tech news roundup
Google’s Sentient AI
Now Internet Explorer may have become dumber with time but Google’s AI is getting smarter. So smart, that one of its engineers claims that the LaMDA AI has become sentient. In simple words, he means that one of Google’s artificial intelligence programs has developed a conscience.
Examples of conscious AI are Ultron and Vision from Marvel movies, and just like the example, if this situation is real, it could be equally good or bad. However, Google denied the claim and suspended the engineer.
In other AI-related news, MIT has developed a Lego-like AI chip. It is a stackable chip which means devices using this chip can be upgraded as many times as you like. Our current phones and laptops can have parts replaced, and some can get upgrades, but there’s no way to upgrade your phone’s processor yet. MIT’s stackable chip could change that soon, which would be great.
Nothing Is Interesting
Carl Pei’s Nothing has successfully recreated the hype from the Nothing Ear (1) to the Nothing Phone (1). This week the company not only gave us our first look at the Nothing Phone (1) but also opened it for pre-order.
Going by its track record, the Nothing Ear (1) are decent earphones that will live up to its name. However, the hype seems to be on a whole another level. So the Nothing Phone (1) too could be a really good phone, but we’re yet to see if it lives up to the hype.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Samsung. The Korean manufacturer is apparently working on the Samsung XCover6, its next-gen rugged smartphone. It has been a while since the company upgraded its rugged smartphone lineup, so we’re also excited to see what Samsung has in store now.
Elon Musk as Homelander from The Boys
Spoiler alert: If you haven’t watched The Boys on Amazon Prime, mild spoiler in this section. Reader’s discretion advised.
In the latest episode of The Boys, The Deep fires the entire crime analytics bureau because they’d tweeted against the new CEO Homelander being out of order. Now if you’ve seen The Boys, you know Homelander as the type of hero you’d want to taser.
Something similar happened at SpaceX as the company fired employees that wrote an open letter about Musk’s behavior. SpaceX’s President fired the employees involved in crafting the letter, stating there’s no need for “overreaching activism” in the company.
This week we also learned that Elon Musk could become the first trillionaire on Earth. But do let us know in the comments what you think about SpaceX firings. It seems a weekly tech news roundup without Tesla or SpaceX getting mentioned is impossible at this point.
EU’s big tech crusade
The European Union just woke up one day and chose violence. At least that’s how most of the big tech companies see it. EU recently made Type-C charging ports mandatory for all electronics, and is now going after deepfakes.
The EU has reportedly instructed companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to actively remove deepfakes and fake accounts, or face fines. It has also broken Google’s ad monopoly by opening up YouTube ads for third-party advertisers.
Talking of the internet and big tech, Mozilla Firefox also revealed an interesting way to take control of your privacy. Firefox’s Total Cookie Protection is a new way that lets you enjoy a personalized internet experience without letting sites track you across the web.
Apple’s unreal laptops are cannibalizing its desktops!
Apple recently launched the M2 MacBook Pro at its WWDC 2022 event. What’s more special is that the $1300 MacBook Pro has outperformed Apple’s own $5999 Mac Pro. Apple ditched Intel to start making its own chips, and this is the difference they’ve achieved.
Intel’s top-of-the-line chips are being displaced by Apple’s entry-level chips. While Intel is still kicking with good progress, Apple and even Google are making bigger strides by making their own chips.
Apple has also been in the headlines this week for its new patents. The company has won another patent for a MacBook with a swappable keyboard. Think of this as a regular MacBook, but you can remove the keyboard and replace it with a drawing pad, gaming controllers, or anything else you like.
But if you’re in a hurry, Sony is reportedly working on PS5 Pro controllers. You might be able to get your hands on these pro controllers soon enough.
$3700 Walkman and a federal lawsuit
Don’t worry, both are separate stories. First, Sony has unveiled a $3700 walkman, which it says delivers a pristine listening experience. So if you’re an audiophile with deep pockets, this might be the thing for you. Sony has used Oxygen-free Copper chassis with gold plating to preserve the sound quality. So we know it works at the deepest levels to deliver sound without noise.
In other news, Adidas is dragging Nike to court for copying its running apps and shoe patents. If Adidas wins the case, it could be trouble for many other companies as they use similar approaches in their fitness trackers.
While these two are busy in the patent war, another popular software that has been out of reach for many is becoming more accessible. Adobe Photoshop web version is going to be free for all. Even with the core features, Photoshop is a powerful tool, and making it free over the web is good news for students and other users who can’t afford a paid version.
Eleventh weekly tech news roundup- What else?
This week, we saw John Oliver talk about big tech monopolies and how they work. We also saw Google Maps add AQI and toll tax calculator to its feature set. The world also saw a midnight crisis as many major apps suffered a coordinated outage.
3D printers have also peaked as a man 3D-printed an Apple accessory even before its release. Also, after cheating in phone benchmarks, Samsung has been caught cheating in TV benchmarks as well, which is disappointing.
However, two good things have also come out from camp Samsung. First, the company has rolled out a Samsung Wallet to compete with Google Wallet. Secondly, the company is reportedly working on a cheaper Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 4G.
Another good news for people frequently switching phones is that WhatsApp now officially lets you transfer chats between iPhone and Android. Users have had to rely on paid programs to do this in the past, but it is free and available from the WhatsApp app itself now.
That’s all in this weekly tech news roundup. Subscribe to our Telegram channel and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for interesting tech updates. Happy weekend!
