Tech Tok: Musk-Twitter whirlwind courtship and breakup

Hyderabad: He began wooing the blue bird with a purchase of about 74 million shares. And then, in just three months, Elon Musk’s courtship with Twitter appears to be heading towards a sour end. So, what is making Musk look the other way? One of the reasons the Tesla boss is backing out, according to […]

Hyderabad: He began wooing the blue bird with a purchase of about 74 million shares. And then, in just three months, Elon Musk’s courtship with Twitter appears to be heading towards a sour end.

So, what is making Musk look the other way?
One of the reasons the Tesla boss is backing out, according to himself, was that Twitter failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts it has. Though the micro-blogging site said it was giving the ‘would-be’ or now, ‘would-have-been’ boss ‘public raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets’, Musk’s lawyers have argued that the company was providing Musk with incomplete or unusable information and less data than it offers some of its big customers.

With Musk continuing to complain about the ‘lack of data’ and backing out, Twitter has now announced its intent to sue him. Interestingly, instead of the ‘breakup’ fee of $1 billion that Musk agreed to pay, Twitter’s insistence that he complete the purchase makes it look like the blue bird is not ready for a divorce even before a wedding. Not surprising but, because the deal, if consummation happens, is worth all of $44 billion.
Twitter’s lawyers, but, say Musk’s claim of termination of the deal is ‘invalid and wrongful’.

Reluctant ‘affair’

As of now, it is almost impossible to predict the outcome of what looks like the beginning of a legal battle over what has been one of the most discussed, and prolonged takeover or what might have been one, of a social media platform.

If Musk loses in court, it remains to be seen whether the world’s richest man will pay up. If he loses, that means, he might have to will abide by the outcome, in other words, finish the acquisition even if he doesn’t want to.

In the meanwhile, Musk is continuing to ridicule Twitter with memes, including one that said: “They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they wouldn’t disclose bot information. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot information in court.”

New launches/features: All-new Chromecast with Google TV arrives in India

Google has announced the launch of new Chromecast with Google TV in India for Rs 6,399.

The new Chromecast with Google TV comes in a compact and thin design, and neatly plugs into the TV’s HDMI port and tucks behind the screen. It provides crystal clear video streaming in up to 4K HDR at up to 60 frames per second, the company said.

“With Dolby Vision, the device offers extraordinary colour, contrast, and brightness on the TV. It also supports HDMI pass-through of Dolby audio content,” Google added.

The all-new Chromecast with Google TV also comes with a voice remote with new features. With Google Assistant, people also get the option to control their smart home lights. Chromecast with Google TV is currently available on Flipkart and will be coming soon to other retail outlets.

Apple’s 2nd affordable AR headset likely in 2025

Apple is likely to launch another augmented reality (AR) in 2025 that will be more affordable than the one the tech giant is set to launch next year to join the metaverse race, popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed.

He said the iPhone maker would launch a higher-performance and lower-cost AR headset variant in 2025.

“The second-generation Apple AR/MR may have high-end and more-affordable models, which will launch in 1H25, and component suppliers will start shipping in 2H24,” he said in a post on Medium.

– Dennis Marcus Mathew with agency inputs