Twitter Being Spammed in China; WhatsApp-Message Yourself; Tesla Refreshing Model 3; Black Friday Sales Set Record 

With the protests all weekend going on in China, one the draconian COVID policy there, and with some calling for a regime change, there is now Twitter spam that is flooding timelines…and apparent effort by the Chinese government to make it harder for people to get information about the protests in China’s largest cities. According to engadget.com, most of the spam centers around porn or gambling. Local activists use Twitter through a VPN to avoid Chinese government censorship of the protests on domestic social networks. With Twitter’s Elon Musk wiping out over half the platform’s staff, they are having a heck of a time trying to keep up and get rid of the spam. The spam bots appear to be prompted when a person keys in the names of the cities in Chinese characters. Meanwhile, the protests continue, with crowds holding up blank sheets of paper. 

WhatsApp has introduced an interesting feature, which should be handy you are on the app a lot, and haven’t ever gotten into the habit of using the notes feature on your phone. Techcrunch.com reports that you will be able to message yourself. In fact, that’s what they are calling it…Message Yourself. It’s a good way to make a quick note of something or send yourself a reminder. Again, if you don’t use the notes feature on your phone, you could even message yourself your shopping list. The feature is rolling out now, and should hit all iOS and Android devices in the next few weeks. Signal has a similar feature, but with WhatsApp, you can set it to put your reminder at the top of the contact list so you can find it more easily. 

Tesla has a refresh of the Model 3 in the works. Theverge.com says it will have fewer interior components (and it is already pretty stark inside) with a slightly redesigned exterior. The goal is to cut production costs and increase appeal. Whether they will pass on the savings is anyone’s guess right now. The freshened model should be rolling off the Shanghai lines in the 3rd quarter of 2023, and will be built at the Fremont factory as well…but no date has been mentioned for that as yet. Although it was hyped as the affordable Tesla, at $35,000, it only hit that price point for a minute. Right now, the cheapest Model 3 has a base price at $46,900.

Despite inflation and worries by some of recession, Black Friday online sales hit a record $9.1 billion. That was up 2.3% from last year, according to geekwire.com…with the data coming from Adobe Analytics. Electronics were the big segment…up 221% over all. Smart home items were up 271%, audio equipment up 230%, toys were up a whopping 285%, and exercise equipment increased by 218%. 

I’m Clark Reid, and you’re ‘Techified’ for now.