“Who’s a good bot? You are!”
Responding to feedback, Twitter will enable a light, write-only API for bots providing good content that is free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2023
It’s been less than a week since Elon Musk locked Twitter’s API behind a paywall and, as ever, Musk has once again moved the goalposts, stating that bots providing “good content” will be allowed to stay. Eligible bots (according to who?) will have access to a “light, write-only” API instead of paying the $100/m fee that was initially discussed.
At the time, Musk justified the company’s stance by claiming that the current state of bots on the platform was “being abused” by scammers and spammers that currently run amok. He added that an extra fee and ID verification could “clean things up greatly.”
Despite some bots being given access to a light API, the decision could lend itself to the company as another way of making money. On top of the $8/m for Twitter Blue, access to Twitter’s full API could spell big numbers for the app’s bank accounts.
The absence of any official Twitter announcement leaves us with some big questions. Which bots are deemed worthy of continued existence on Twitter? Will this only apply to existing bots, or can newer bots also request life? Or perhaps, the most essential question of all; will any of this matter once Elon Musk decides to take his weekly dose of meds?
Source: The Verge
iPhone 15 Ultra – Mark Gurman
According to a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the world could be seeing yet another flagship iPhone added to the ever-growing list that releases once a year. The iPhone 15 ‘Ultra’ was once speculated to be a replacement for the Pro Max, though it now seems that Apple could include it as an additional offering, on top of the Pro and Pro Max.
Should Gurman be correct – and he often is – we could see the new model join Apple’s ranks as early as next year.
How the 15 Ultra would distinguish itself from its silver-skinned brethren still isn’t known. Gurman suggests that they could feature faster processors, a better camera, and the ol’ reliable ploy of making the screen even larger. The biggest change could be the end of charging ports (as we know them). “There also may be more future-forward features, such as finally dropping the charging port,” Gurman adds.
This rumour is still in its infancy, meaning Gurman was, unfortunately, able to offer up any potential price points. Considering that Apple’s other Ultra device is almost double the price of the Watch 8, an iPhone Ultra won’t be cheap.
Source: Bloomberg
SpaceX’s Starship is (maybe) ready for liftoff
After years of trying, SpaceX’s Starship may finally get its much-anticipated orbital flight test as early as next month. If, all goes to plan. In response to a question on Twitter, Musk said that his private agency was targeting a launch sometime in March. “If [the] remaining tests go well, we will attempt a Starship launch next month.”
The Starship craft has already completed its “wet dress rehearsal” that saw over 10 million pounds of liquid oxygen and methane fuel loaded into the spacecraft. Along with its first-ever stacked fuelling test, it seems that Starship may finally get off the ground in March. February is the final hurdle, as the craft still has to undergo a static firing of all of the Super Heavy stage’s 33 Raptor engines. Thus far, Starship hasn’t ignited more than fourteen of the engines simultaneously.
Should everything go according to plan, the Federal Aviation Administration could finally give SpaceX the go-ahead for the launch.
Source: Engadget
An R870,000 iPhone 1
We could handle the R40,000 price tag attached to iPhone’s most expensive phone: the 14 Pro Max 1TB edition. We could even see how Apple justified the Apple Watch Ultra’s nearly R20,000 fee. But we just can’t get on board with a $50,000 (R870,000) first-generation iPhone 1. No, that is not a typo.
It wasn’t so long ago – sixteen years to be exact – that a first-gen iPhone only cost $500. Now, one of those phones is up for auction, and auctioneers think that it’ll actually sell for the price mentioned above. It’s described as “one of the most important and ubiquitous inventions of our lifetime” and is widely regarded as “a blue-chip asset amongst high-end collectors.”
And these prices weren’t just pulled from the auctioneer’s behind either. It said that two similar items were recently sold off to the highest bidder, each garnering prices of around $40,000. At the time of writing, the auction is currently sitting at $15,000 (R260,000), with the sale running until Thursday next week.
If you’ve still got any unopened devices from ye olde times just sitting around – hold onto them. You never know when the next piece of ‘historical tech’ will be a desirable object in the zeitgeist.
Source: Tech Radar