Good morning and happy Thursday. Let’s get you up to speed in the world of tech.
1. Uber to pay $21 million over ‘misleading’ cancellation fee messages
In a statement back in April, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said Uber admitted that it breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading statements in cancellation warning messages and Uber Taxi fare estimates. On Wednesday, Justice Michael O’Bryan handed down his decision, ruling Uber was to pay $21 million to settle the case.
2. Intel starts fixing old game performance on Arc cards
As reported by Ars Technica, Intel is working on fixing the performance on some older games with a DirectX 9 performance update. This update can boost the speeds of games by between 50 and 80 per cent. Intel’s new Arc series of cards has struggled with some older games and keeping them as optimised as Nvidia or AMD cards, but it now looks like a priority for the PC components giant.
3. Sustainable energy could soon overtake coal and gas
Sustainable energy is on the rise. Globally, the amount of renewable energy from sources like wind and solar is set to increase as much in the next five years as it did over the past 20, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. And, in that doubling, renewable power will overtake coal by 2025, accounting for more than 90% of all electricity expansion between now and 2027, the IEA forecasted.
4. Microsoft promises 10 years of Call of Duty for Switch
In another shake-up of the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft, the head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that the company has entered a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to the Nintendo Switch. No doubt that this was announced to further heat the acquisition up and thwart concerns put forward by Sony (the creator of PlayStation) that Xbox was trying to cut off a major game from its platform.
Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to @Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King. Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people – however they choose to play. @ATVI_AB
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022
5. Bezos is hoping for a second chance to build NASA’s lunar lander
Earlier this year, NASA formally announced its intention to procure a second lunar lander for its Artemis program, so it comes as little surprise to learn that Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is once again hoping to snag a deal. The company is once again making a pitch to build a lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis program. The space company is partnering with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Astrobotic Technology, Honeybee Robotics, and Draper in hopes of building a second lander.
BONUS ITEM: Volodymyr Zelensky is TIME’s 2022 Person of the Year.
TIME’s 2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky and the spirit of Ukraine #TIMEPOY https://t.co/06Y5fuc0fG pic.twitter.com/i8ZT3d5GDa
— TIME (@TIME) December 7, 2022
Have a wonderful day.