More Twitter Layoffs; Meta Backs Anti-Sextortion Platform; Xiaomi Shows AR Glasses; Motorola Bluetooth Add-On Enables Satellite Connection

After shutting down Twitter’s internal Slack chat app last week..allegedly for the bill not being paid, Twitter laid off over 50 more folks over the weekend. Included in the cut were Elon Musk loyalist Esther Crawford, who oversaw the company’s Twitter Blue verification subscription. According to techcrunch.com, most of the remaining product team also got the chop. A post on Blind, an anonymous platform for verified workers, 50% were in human relations, 60% in sales and marketing, 35% in engineering, 40% in finance and 80% in project management. Employees have received one month’s severance, the poster said. There has been no comment from Twitter or Musk. Musk had promised last fall no more cuts, but on the other hand, he’s been promising actual self-driving next year on Tesla cars for several years, and that hasn’t happened. 

Meta is looking to a new tool called Take it Down to stop the spread of sextortion images on Facebook and Instagram. CNN reports that Take it Down is operated and run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children allows minors to anonymously add a hash…or digital fingerprint…to intimate photos or videos from their own device, without having to upload to a new platform. If the pic of video gets posted to Facebook or Instagram, including Messenger and direct messages, it can be matched with the digital fingerprint, get reviewed and removed…hopefully in a timely manner! The tool is available at TakeItDown.NCMEC.org. The youngster downloads the app to their phone, and can begin using it. There is also StopNCII, which was rolled out in 2021, and is intended to remove revenge porn affecting adults. 

Mobile World Congress opened in Barcelona today, and Xiaomi showed their new wireless AR glasses. Engadget.com notes that these are not into production as yet, but a really cool concept device. The Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition look more like oversized sunglasses than the goggles most AR and mixed reality headsets have right now…and like the renderings of Apple’s upcoming headset. They run on the same chip as the Quest Pro, and use a magnesium-titanium alloy and carbon fiber to lighten weight. The glasses use electrochromic lenses to allow users to seamlessly go from reality to the virtual world with a single click. They are still heavy at 4.4 ounces, so not something one could wear all day as yet, but Xiaomi says the idea is to let users have extended wear time without a tether to a smartphone. As they are still  not close to production yet, no word on pricing or how long they would last on a charge. 

Motorola announced a cool gadget at Mobile World Congress, too. According to zdnet.com, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link is a credit card sized device that carries a modem that supports Bullitt Satellite Connect, and eSIM card, and an independent GPS. The device connects to any relatively recent iOS or Android phone and allows you to send an emergency text message from areas without cellular…like you can do on the newest iPhones and Samsung phones. So if you like to go off hiking in the woods or to secluded beaches where there’s no connection, but like the safety of satellite emergency connection, this is for you. It’s $99 for the device, or $149 for the Defy Satellite Link plus a year’s connection plan with emergency SOS and up to 30 satellite messages a month. 

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