Charlotte Henry

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, one of the founders of the web, launched The Contract for the Web on Monday. It is his plan to save the internet, according to The Guardian. However, a number of organizations were involved in the project.

The contract, which has been worked on by 80 organizations for more than a year, outlines nine central principles to safeguard the web – three each for governments, companies and individuals. The document, published by Berners-Lee’s Web Foundation, has the backing of more than 150 organizations, from Microsoft, Google and Facebook to the digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation. At the time of writing, neither Amazon nor Twitter had endorsed the principles. Those who back the contract must show they are implementing the principles and working on solutions to the tougher problems, or face being removed from the list of endorsers.

Barclays analysts believe that the new iPhone 12 and 12 Pro will have 6GB of RAM and be 5G enabled. They also made predictions about the iPhone SE 2. MacRumors got a peek at their predictions.

In a research note viewed by MacRumors, the Barclays analysts said the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will likely have 6GB of RAM, up from 4GB in the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. They also expect both models to feature rear-facing 3D sensing and mmWave support for higher-performance 5G. The base model iPhone 12 is expected to have 4GB of RAM, equal to the iPhone 11. While the iPhone 12 is also expected to be 5G enabled, the analysts did not indicate whether the device will support mmWave, sub-6GHz, or both. Last, the analysts indicated that the so-called “iPhone SE 2” is still in the pipeline

Uber’s London license expires on Monday, November 25th. However, Reuters reported that the firm does not yet know if it is going to be renewed.

Transport for London (TfL) rejected a renewal request in 2017 due to shortcomings it said it found in the firm’s approach to reporting serious criminal offences and driver background checks, prompting legal action. A judge in 2018 then granted Uber a probationary 15-month license, after the Silicon Valley-based company had made several changes to its business model. In September, TfL gave Uber just a two-month extension, far short of the maximum possible five years, and imposed further conditions covering ride-sharing, appropriate insurance and driver document checks.

Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s Cybertruck on Thursday. The event was notable for being full of glitches. But, as Cult of Mac, noted, it as also notable for another thing – Mr. Musk used Steve Jobs’ famous “one more thing” trick.

“Oh by the way, we made an ATV,” he said, before it was driven onto the stage. The Cybertruck was shown off during a crazy, science-fiction-style event. The vehicle ranges in price from $39,900 for the base model to $69,900 for the fully kitted-out version. It is scheduled for release in 2020. The demonstration didn’t go entirely according to plan. The vehicle’s “unbreakable” windows broke twice, after which Musk seemed to lose a bit of his stage confidence. However he regained it when it came to the event-closing “one more thing” line. While Musk didn’t say the actual line, he paused, held up a single finger and then let the crowd yell “one more thing.” At that point, the electric ATV was driven on stage. The ATV uses the same design language as the truck. It can be driven on board via an unfolding loading ramp. It can then charge from the truck’s battery.

Underlying security flaws from code copied from code libraries are in thousands of apps, according to new research from cybersecurity firm CheckPoint. Wired reported that it is causing big problems on Android.

“There are a lot of vulnerabilities out there in applications,” says Yaniv Balmas, head of cyber research at Check Point. “Some of these vulnerabilities are not specifically in applications, but they are found in code libraries. Modern applications use dozens or hundreds of these libraries to operate.” Code libraries (often known as software libraries) allow developers without expertise in specific areas, such as Java Script, to use code that’s already been created. Researchers at Check Point say they have identified existing code libraries that contained vulnerabilities and then compared them to apps scraped from the Play Store. The company says it regularly checks Android apps for its security teams to look for current threats.

All major carriers are going to have 5G networks by 2020, Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon told Yahoo Finance. Given we’re mere weeks away from the new year, that seems a bold prediction. I assume he meant the carriers will have the capability at some point in 2020, not right at the start.

Next-generation 5G wireless connectivity is coming — in fact, it’s available now in some small pockets in major U.S. cities right now. According to Qualcomm (QCOM) President Cristiano Amon, the successor to our current 4G LTE wireless networks will be up and running in all metropolitan areas by next year. “We are at the very beginning of a new technology transition, and like with every technology transition, networks have to be built, you have to have coverage,” Amon told Yahoo Finance’s On The Move on Wednesday. “However, what is great about this time is that we accelerated 5G by a year, and the device ecosystem is ready.” But it will take time before 5G reaches the ubiquity of today’s 4G LTE connections.

Disney+ gained 10 million subscribers on its first day and the service’s growth shows no sign of slowing down. Variety reported that it could hit its target of 60 million subscribers by 2022, two years earlier than its aiming for.

Expectations were already enormous ahead of the launch. Disney Plus was largely expected to accrue about 8 million users across the seven remaining weeks in calendar 2019 — but not 10 million in one day. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives believes that at its current pace, Disney could hit its 2024 goal of 60 million to 90 million global streaming subscribers potentially two years earlier than targeted. That would mark admirably aggressive growth. For context, streaming market leader Netflix boasts more than 60 million subscribers in the U.S. and 158 million worldwide, a base built over the last 12 years or so. Ives’ estimates suggest Disney could get within spitting distance of a nine-figure subscriber base in just three years.

The EU’s executive, the EU Commission, has increasingly turned its attention on Big Tech in recent times. It fined Apple $14.5 billion in 2016, and is looking at alleged competition issues around the Walle App.  At the center of it all is competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The New York Times has a really good profile of her, picked up by Cult of Mac. It shows’ that the EU’s battle with Big Tech is only just beginning.

A New York Times article writes that Vestager “envisions a more aggressive agenda” for moderating the tech industry. It notes that: “Ms. Vestager, a 51-year-old former Danish lawmaker, is doubling down. She has signed on for a rare second five-year term as the head of the European Commission’s antitrust division, and assumed expanded responsibility over digital policy across the 28-nation bloc…” There are few specifics in the article, aside from the overall sense that Vestager is looking to double-down on her moderating of tech companies. The European Commission is already looking into a number of tech giants. This includes the question of whether Apple is abusing its marketplace position with the App Store.