🚨 Meta in Trouble with EU, Huawei's Chip Push, and Robot Pets
Good morning. It’s Monday, July 01. Today we are covering:
Meta's pay or consent model in crosshairs for breaching EU tech rules
Huawei, semiconductor firm Wuhan Xinxin to develop high-bandwidth memory chips
Robot cats, dogs and birds are being deployed amid an 'epidemic of loneliness'
This MIT Study Looks At How Soft Robotic Hands Can Pack Our Groceries
30 years later, FreeDOS is still keeping the dream of the command prompt alive
Let’s dive in
Meta's pay or consent model in crosshairs for breaching EU tech rules
By Foo Yun Chee via Reuters
Meta Platforms was charged by EU antitrust regulators for non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), specifically targeting its "pay or consent" advertising model introduced in Europe last November.
The European Commission claims Meta's binary choice, which forces users to either consent to data tracking or pay for a no-ads subscription, breaches the DMA by not offering an equivalent service with less personalized ads.
This charge follows the EU's first DMA charge against Apple the previous week, highlighting the EU's efforts to curb the power of Big Tech companies.
𝕏: The #DMA is here to give back 🇪🇺 users the power to decide over their #data #Meta has forced millions of users across EU into a binary choice : “pay or consent”. In our preliminary conclusion this is a breach of the DMA. Today we take an important step to ensure Meta complies. - Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton)
Huawei, semiconductor firm Wuhan Xinxin to develop high-bandwidth memory chips
By Che Pan via South China Morning Post
Huawei has partnered with Wuhan Xinxin to develop high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips in response to US tech sanctions.
This collaboration includes Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Tech and Tongfu Microelectronics, which will provide advanced packaging technology for stacking different semiconductor types.
Despite being in the early stages of HBM chip development, China’s progress in this field will be closely monitored amid increasing global demand and existing tech restrictions from Washington.
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Robot cats, dogs and birds are being deployed amid an 'epidemic of loneliness'
By Brian Heater via TechCrunch
Robot pets, including cats, dogs, and birds, are being deployed to combat loneliness among older adults, with New York State’s Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) distributing over 31,500 robot pets since 2018.
Ageless Innovations, a Hasbro spinoff, produces these robotic companions under the Joy for All brand, which includes a retriever-like dog, a cat, and the newly introduced Walker Squawker bird.
Studies have shown that these robotic pets can significantly reduce feelings of loneliness and depression, providing meaningful activity and positive experiences, especially during times of limited human interaction, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
This MIT Study Looks At How Soft Robotic Hands Can Pack Our Groceries
By Jennifer Kite-Powell via Forbes
Researchers from MIT's CSAIL are developing RoboGrocery, a soft robotic system that uses vision technology, motor-based proprioception, and soft tactile sensors to pack groceries based on their weight, size, and shape without causing damage.
RoboGrocery outperformed traditional methods in tests, reducing item-damaging actions by up to nine times compared to sensorless systems and 4.5 times compared to vision-only approaches.
The system can assess items' delicacy and pack them efficiently, with potential applications extending beyond grocery packing, bringing robots closer to assisting people with physical tasks.
30 years later, FreeDOS is still keeping the dream of the command prompt alive
By Andrew Cunningham via Ars Technica
FreeDOS, developed 30 years ago by Jim Hall as an open-source alternative to MS-DOS, remains the only actively maintained MS-DOS-compatible operating system.
While not suited for modern internet use, FreeDOS is crucial for running legacy applications on both virtual machines and older hardware, providing a maintained DOS offshoot for systems as old as the original IBM PC.
Interest in FreeDOS has remained steady, with new users often discovering it through computer science courses or professional articles, highlighting its continued relevance and educational value.
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