Meta Tests Age Verification-Facebook Dating; Apple AR Headset May Ship 2nd Half of 2023; Hackers in China Stole Millions in COVID Relief; DHL Buying Fleet of Ford EV Vans

Meta is testing age verification tools for Facebook Dating, in an effort to make that product safer…and to get ahead of an expected tightened regulatory environment. Axios.com reports that Meta and other tech platforms think the government is getting ready to crack down on them, in an effort to make things safer for children and teens online. Facebook Dating rolled out in 2019, and the age verification tools they are testing are borrowed from co-owned Instagram. One method of verification includes video selfies, which are screened by partner company Yoti’s software…which guesses the age from the uploaded image. The other method is via ID uploads. You DO trust Meta with an image of your driver’s license, right? Anyway, Meta claims these techniques have kept 96% of teens on Instagram who tried to edit their birthdays from doing so…or so they think.

We just reported last week that Bloomberg said Apple’s mixed reality headset should be out next spring. Now, according to macrumors.com, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it will be delayed until the second half of next year, due to unspecified ’software-related issues.’ Kuo says shipments of components WILL start in the first half of 2023, but the fully assembled units won’t be out until the 2nd half of the year. Originally, rumors had Apple introducing the system in January, but now it could be revealed at WWDC in June. As we noted earlier, the Apple mixed reality headset will be pricey. Kuo thinks they will ship less than a half million of them next year for that reason. 

Hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in early COVID relief funds…both via SBA loans and from unemployment funds in over a dozen states, according to the Secret Service. NBC says the theft was by a hacking group in China called APT41. It may not be close to all of the theft, either. The Secret Service, through spokesman Roy Dotson says “It would be crazy to think this group didn’t target all 50 states.” The Secret Service declined to confirm the scope of other investigations, saying there are more than 1,000 ongoing investigations involving transnational and domestic criminal actors defrauding public benefits programs.

Courier company DHL is buying a couple thousand Ford E-Transit electric vans for last mile deliveries. Arstechnica.com reports that the vans will be used in both the US and Europe. EVs are particularly suited to last mile use, as they are never terribly far from their bases, and can return for charging relatively easily. DHL already runs some 27,000 electric vans worldwide. Some have been converted from diesel motors. They also use EVs from Rivian, and from a maker called BrightDrop. 

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