Canada’s Liberals are likely to exclude Huawei tech from policy, Epic Games shuts down the Chinese version of Fortnite, and the problem with Twitter Blue.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Tuesday, November 16, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
As the Canadian Liberal government prepares to unfurl its policy on next-generation mobile networks, experts say Chinese vendor Huawei will likely be excluded from the policy. Fifth-generation networks will allow for faster online connections and a larger data capacity to meet the high demand for internet-related services. According to the National Post, the Conservatives have pressed the Liberals to deny Huawei a place in the 5G plan due to concerns that Beijing could spy on Canada more easily. Some think Huawei’s participation could give it access to an array of digital information on Canadian customers and their devices.
Epic Games shut down its Chinese version of Fortnite on Monday. According to Channel News Asia, Epic announced two weeks ago that it would shut down the Chinese version of the game on November 15, saying “Fortnite China’s Beta test has reached an end” and that server would be closed.” Chinese players lost access to the game on Monday, as they posted goodbyes on the social media app Weibo. A discussion board dedicated to the game had 470 million views. The latest move ends a long-running test of Fortnite created for China, where content is policed for excessive violence. The Chinese government has cracked down more on the technology sector this year. This is due to concerns that tech giants are becoming too big and powerful and children are spending too much time playing online games.
This week Twitter’s subscription service Twitter Blue launched in the U.S. The service costs $2.99 per month and is supposed to make Twitter more “customizable.” The subscription includes a bevy of features, including an “undo button” for Tweets. However, an article from The Verge points out some flaws with the subscription service as a whole. According to the article features such as the undo button for tweets, the reader mode for threads, or the ability to edit the navigation bar which are basic improvements that would benefit all Twitter users. While Twitter Blue is still in its early stages, as of now it seems more of a cash grab than a new app improvement.
And now for something a little different, An iPhone X that had been altered to have a USB-C charging rather than the Lightning port and has sold on eBay for over $80,000. A Swiss robotics student auctioned off the device for $86,001 after he decided that he wanted an iPhone with a USB Type-C. He said everything he owns has USB Type-C and he wanted to be able to convert an iPhone too. The student wanted the USB-C port to work as it would if it was officially supported. This would include being able to transfer data, charge the phone, be reversible, and keep all functional components inside the iPhone.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. If you have a suggestion or tip, please drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Tom Li.