This Week In Tech: Uber Under Fire and Apple Emojis
This week has been a rocky one in the tech world, with plenty of highs and a fair few lows. This week in tech we look at how Uber drivers are tapping into celebrity phones to get all the gossip, Apple are pretty happy with their new set of emojis in the latest iOS update and Microsoft get their hands on the social media network LinkedIn. So... let's learn more about these stories shall we?
Uber Drivers Are Also Spies
Taxi service and app Uber are under fire as they have been accused of letting/encouraging their drivers to track their customers in real time, including some pretty big celebrities and also ex-lovers. The accusation was made by their former forensic investigator in a court declaration. Former employee Mr Spangenberg was fired at the beginning of this year and is suing the company for age discrimination (among other things). The tool used, "God View", was a security concern and no longer exists and has been replaced with "Heaven View". Uber strongly deny the claims, however did admit to there being some unauthorised access. Needless to say, you're probably much better off getting a taxi from the rank!
Image credit: Uber
Apple Shows Off Their New Emojis
Yes we're talking about Apple yet again as their latest operating sytem update, iOS 10.2, included over 100 new emojis. It also comes with a few tweaks and a new TV app, but who cares about those? The new emoji's were created and designed by The Unicode Consortium, who are a non profit organisation that are used to set the standard accross all platforms. Within those 104 new emojis you can see a clown - which most likely takes inspiration from the numerous news stories of clowns walking the streets with knives earlier this year, a gorilla - which is probablty in dedication to the gorilla called Harambe shot in Cincinnati Zoo and a little face plam - which is an accurate reprisentation of how we all feel about 2016.
Image credit: Alex Proimos via Flickr
Microsoft Aquire LinkedIn
Tech giants Microsoft have decided to snap up social media network LinkedIn for a wallet crunching $26 billion. The deal itself isn't new, news broke of this about 6 months ago, however the deal has finally come to a close and has gone though. Although both companies have struggled over the last year, both seem to think that the aquisition will reinvigorate Microsoft software - which in turn will potentially boost LinkedIn users. They plan on working together as well as independently, rather than simply merging into one company. It's clear that Microsoft intends to use this as a way to target working professionals, but will the current LinkedIn users bite back? Only time will tell.
Image credit: anandirc via Flickr
That's all for this week! Tune in next week to hear more about what's going on in the world of tech. If you'd like to see our very own LinkedIn page simply click the link provided, alternatively you can always follow us on Twitter @XenaceLtd or catch us on Facebook.
