Silicon UK Pulse: Your Tech News Update: Episode 18

Welcome to Silicon UK Pulse

This is your weekly round-up of the top tech news stories.

Every Friday, Silicon UK surveys the week’s tech news.

Stay up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry or sector.

I’m James Marriott with all the big technology news from the last week.

Welcome to Silicon UK Pulse

I’m James Marriott with all the big technology news from the last week.

The new range of iPhones has officially been unveiled.

Apple’s Wonderlust event on Tuesday night revealed the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max

No major surprises really.

As expected, they’re the first iPhones to switch to a USB-C connector instead of Apple’s own Lightning port.

Dynamic island makes it to all models this year – that’s the little pill shaped cut out at the top of the screen.

It was the chips and camera systems which got the biggest upgrades.

On the Pro models, the mute toggle switch on the side becomes an action button which can be configured to do whatever you want, really.

Pre-orders start Friday 15th, and the phones launch a week later.

We got a range of new Apple Watch models as well.

The Series 9 watch gets a brighter screen and can recognise a new double tap gesture – quite clever this – doesn’t involve touching the screen or the watch at all, but basically tapping your index finger and thumb together twice.

There’s a link to a video demo of it on our website at silicon.co.uk – worth a look

We also got a second-generation Apple Watch Ultra – new chip and brighter screen too, otherwise no major changes.

Meanwhile – in France – the Government’s ordered Apple to stop selling its iPhone 12 model there because of radiation fears.

A watchdog says the handset emits too much electromagnetic radiation.

It told Apple that if it can’t fix the issue with a software upgrade, it’ll have to recall every iPhone 12 ever sold in the country.

The phone originally launched in September 2020.

The UK Government has dropped a controversial part of its Online Safety Bill proposals.

But it denied it had u-turned after scrapping plans to scan encrypted messaging services for harmful content as part of the bill.

That had been widely criticised by tech firms.

Many including WhatsApp said they’d rather pull out of the UK than comply with the requirements.

Openreach is rolling out another phase of fibre upgrades.

Around 200,000 more homes will get faster broadband in the latest work.

Its gigabit-capable technology will now be added to locations spread across the UK in both rural and urban areas including Chichester in West Sussex, Broughton in Greater Manchester, Perth in Scotland, and Pantymwyn in Wales.

Overall, a total of 2,829 towns, cities, boroughs, villages and hamlets are now included in the company’s fibre to the premises programme.

Now, could AI help to land planes?

Well, UK researchers have constructed a “digital twin” representation of the country in an experiment to see whether artificial intelligence could aid human air traffic controllers – or eventually replace them.

It’s called Project Bluebird – a partnership between National Air Traffic Services, the Alan Turing Institute and Exeter University.

Researchers think AI could help find more fuel-efficient routes for aircraft and may be able to cut delays and congestion as well as speeding up training for controllers.

Speaking of AI – some research this week suggests the vast majority of businesses in the UK and Ireland are already using it.

84% have already implemented it in ‘some’ capacity, with 24% using it ‘broadly’ across their business.

Most businesses say they trust AI, and that figure is even higher in the boardroom.

97% of chief-level officers and 93% of business owners say they trust the tech.

Facebook parent company Meta says it’s ending a community news project in the UK.

It says the moves are part of an effort to “better align our investments to our products and services people value the most”.

Meta is also winding down a dedicated News tab in the UK, France and Germany through which it has paid news publishers for their content.

The European Commission has officially designated six ‘gatekeepers’ of online services that are subject to its Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The EC announced that Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft are among the gatekeepers, with a total of 22 core platform services from them also being designated.

It was back in July 2022 when the European Parliament voted to adopt the new landmark rules that impose significant regulatory burdens on tech platforms.

A UK-based research group targeted by Elon Musk in a lawsuit has launched a fresh attack on X – saying its content moderation practices are failing.

The Centre for Countering Digital Hate is a non-profit that fights hate speech and disinformation – it posted a blog on Wednesday saying it “reported 300 tweets containing extreme hate to X, it left up 259 of them.”

Elon Musk and the group certainly have a history. Last month X followed through on its legal threat and sued them, accusing it of false claims and spooking advertisers after previous criticisms.

And some slot machines had to be shut down at a major hotel chain this week after a cyberattack.

MGM Resorts runs hotels and casinos across the US, including several in Las Vegas.

It also affected the room keys – with one social media user saying she’d walked into the wrong room because of the issue.

That’s the latest from Silicon UK Pulse – for more tech news and features, head to silicon.co.uk