NewsBytes Briefing: ByteDance co-founder steps down as CEO, and more
What's the story
While the Big Tech oligarchy unpersoned a sitting US President, China seemingly took those lessons to heart and began cracking down on the tech oligarchy within its own backyard.
Not long after Jack Ma mysteriously reappeared after having vanished for three months, it is now the turn of ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming to step down as the CEO of TikTok's parent company.
Racist intelligence
Apparently, Twitter's AI-powered image cropping algorithm is irrevocably racist
Yiming made a smart choice by opting for early retirement over three months in a re-education camp, but Twitter hasn't displayed the same foresight. The microblogging site made the mistake of trusting AI and ML algorithms to crop uploaded images.
Twitter seems to have forgotten that all AI is inherently racist, as evidenced by Microsoft's Tay AI bot that went a bit too sentient.
No refunds
Spotify's virtual concerts combine worst of internet and real life
Speaking of bad ideas, Spotify is charging $15 for the privilege of watching pre-recorded music performances that will air at specific dates and times, but cannot be watched on demand. No refunds if you miss them either.
What's more, you can't even use the official app to watch it. At this rate, we won't be surprised if the virtual concert gave you COVID-19.
Bye Internet Explorer
You'll soon have to find something else to download Chrome
After spending most of its 25 years of service helping people download better browsers, Microsoft is finally retiring the hallowed Internet Explorer. However, the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) of Windows 10 will include it until next year.
But that begs the question. What will you use to download Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on a fresh Windows installation? Please don't say Microsoft Edge.
Real inclusivity
Meanwhile, Apple's accessibility options are genuinely impressive
We were only kidding, the only browser you should use is Dissenter to escape Big Tech tracking. However, sometimes Big Tech takes a break from being evil.
Take Apple, for example, which has gone to great lengths engineering accessibility features for people with mental and physical disabilities. Some of these features even use sensor arrays to allow amputees to control devices with apparent ease.