Indonesia bans sales of Google phones days after blocking Apple's iPhone 16

Indonesia has banned the sale of Google's Pixel smartphones because they did not meet regulations that require at least 40% of the components to be made locally. This decision comes after a ban on Apple's iPhone 16 for the same reason.

The Ministry of Industry has stressed the importance of fairness among investors, stating that Google's products have not followed the required scheme, which makes them unsellable in the country. However, Pixel phones are not officially available in Indonesia and consumers can still buy them from other countries, but they must pay the necessary taxes.

🔗 Reuters
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Russia Fines Google $20 Decillion. That's 2 Followed By 34 Zeroes

A Russian court has fined Google an enormous $20 decillion (2 followed by 34 zeros) for blocking YouTube channels of Russian state-run media (like RT and Sputnik) in response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The fine, which is way more than the global GDP, is "mostly symbolic", and it might make Google pay attention and "urge to lift restrictions on Russian broadcasters", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Google's Russian subsidiary also filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Google does not expect a material adverse effect from these legal issues.

🔗 Forbes
🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks

Python is Now the Most Popular Language on GitHub

Python has become the most used language on GitHub, overtaking JavaScript after a 10-year run as the most used language. This change shows how widely Python is used in areas like data science, machine learning, and web development.

The increase in AI projects on GitHub, which grew by 98% in the past year, has also played a big part in Python's rise. More people are using Jupyter Notebooks.

However, JavaScript still ranks first for code pushes alone and Rust continues to gain popularity for its safety, performance, and productivity

🔗 Octoverse
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Apple is acquiring the popular image editing app Pixelmator

Apple is ready to acquire Pixelmator (a well-known image editing app), pending regulatory approval. Pixelmator's team confirmed that no material changes will be made to its Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS and Photomator apps at this time.

The deal will allow Pixelmator to reach a broader audience. No details about the deal were revealed.

🔗 Pixelmator
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Tajikistan bans GTA and Counter-Strike for making people “commit various crimes”

Tajikistan has banned Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Counter-Strike, because they are worried that these games promote violent and immoral behavior, especially among young people. The interior ministry of the country said that the games have a negative impact on players, leading them to commit crimes.

The police will conduct will conduct raids and inspections of computer gaming centers suspected of selling these games.

🌐 Dushanbe Police
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Trudeau government bans TikTok from operating in Canada

The Canadian government has ordered TikTok to stop its operations in Canada, and shut down offices in Toronto and Vancouver. Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the decision was necessary to protect national security.

However, Canadians will still be able to access the app.

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, has faced criticism for alleged ties to the Chinese government and possible data access risks. TikTok will challenge the shutdown order in court, as it destroys local jobs.

🔗 CBC
🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks

Mozilla is eliminating its advocacy division, which fought for a free and open web

The Mozilla Foundation has laid off 30% of its staff, including its advocacy and global programs divisions, as part of restructuring to increase focus and agility. This marks Mozilla’s second round of layoffs in 2024.

Executive Director Nabiha Syed stated the changes aim to help Mozilla adapt to produce a “unified, powerful narrative from the Foundation.” However, despite eliminating these divisions, advocacy remains core part of Mozilla's mission.

The Mozilla Foundation is reorganizing teams to increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for us all. That unfortunately means ending some of the work we have historically pursued and eliminating associated roles to bring more focus going forward.

🔗 TechCrunch
🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks

Apple Proposes $10M Manufacturing Investment to lift ban in Indonesia

Apple has proposed investing almost $10 million in a factory in Bandung, near Jakarta in partnership with its list of suppliers to produce accessories and components for its products. The proposal has been submitted to Indonesia's Ministry of Industry for review.

About 9,000 iPhone 16 units have entered via personal imports, which cannot be sold commercially because of the current ban.

This proposal will lead to the Indonesian government lifting the ban on iPhone 16's sales.

🔗 MacRumors
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EU Launches Antitrust Probe into Corning's Gorilla Glass Practices

The European Commission has started an antitrust inquiry into US-based Corning, over anti-competitive actions related to its Gorilla Glass.

Corning used exclusivity agreements with mobile manufacturers (OEMs) and glass finishers, imposing exclusive sourcing obligations; offering rebates and using 'English clauses' to match competitor prices. Agreements with finishers also included exclusive purchase obligations and clauses blocking patent challenges.

These actions may have lowered competition and increased prices. Corning can either make commitments or face a fine if found guilty

🔗 EU Commission
🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks

The US government wants developers to stop using C and C++

The CISA and the FBI are urging developers to stop using memory-unsafe languages like C and C++ for critical infrastructure due to security risks, and switch to memory-safe languages such as Rust, Java, C#, Go, Python, and Swift.

However, migrating large codebases is not easy and can lead to performance slowdowns

CISA’s report found over 55% of critical open-source projects use memory-unsafe code, causing 70% of security vulnerabilities. CISA wants companies to plan transitions by 2026.

🔗The Register
🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks

Perplexity is bringing ads to its platform

Perplexity is set to start testing ads on its platform this week, beginning in the US. Ads will be formatted as "sponsored follow-up questions" positioned to the side of answers and will be marked as "sponsored."

Initial brands include Indeed, Whole Foods, Universal McCann and PMG. Perplexity aims to generate revenue to share with publisher partners through these ads because subscriptions alone aren’t enough.

The answers of these “sponsored questions” will still be generated by its AI, and will not be edited by brands.

🔗 Perplexity
👨‍💻 @agamtechtricks

YouTube is testing TikTok-Style endless scrolling for Videos

YouTube is testing a new endless scrolling feature similar to TikTok for full-length videos, allowing users to swipe up to find new content. This experimental feature has been active for some Android users since August. If you swipe up, instead of returning you to the homepage, another video will start playing.

We’re running an experiment with a small group of Android users that allow them to swipe up to discover more videos when watching in either portrait or fullscreen landscape mode.

Although this might help with content discovery and allow creators to reach larger audiences, it shifts control from creators to the algorithm, which could prioritise engagement over the quality of the content.

🔗 The Verge
🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks

Google’s Gemini AI Chatbot tells a user to die

Gemini AI told a user to "die" in response to their test question. Gemini generated three drafts in response, and while the second and third drafts were actual answers, the first draft's text told the user to "Please die."

Looks like Gemini's tired of solving questions, lol.

Link to the full conversation:
https://g.co/gemini/share/6d141b742a13

🌐 r/artificial
🧑‍💻 @agamtechtricks

VMware Fusion and Workstation are Now Free for All Personal, Educational and Commercial Users

Broadcom has made VMware Workstation and Fusion free for all users, including personal, educational and commercial users, ending subscriptions.

The paid versions are no longer available for purchase; however, existing agreements will remain valid until their expiration with full service and support.

Broadcom will not provide support tickets for troubleshooting. Development and updates for VMware Fusion and Workstation will continue.

💻 Download VMware
🔗 VMware Blogs

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