This week’s update highlights Blue Sky’s privacy-focused Find Friends feature, China’s progress in developing EUV lithography machines, and financial struggles in the e-bike industry with Red Bike’s bankruptcy and Cowboy’s acquisition. Additional tech news includes Apple’s new 3D image tool Sharp, regulatory changes in the EU, leadership shifts at Mozilla, Microsoft’s controversial Copilot ad, and various industry developments such as Apple’s expanded app store policies and iRobot’s bankruptcy.
In this week’s update, Blue Sky launched an innovative software feature called Find Friends, which elegantly balances functionality with privacy. Unlike traditional contact-sharing methods that often expose all your contacts’ private information to companies without their consent, Blue Sky requires users to verify their phone numbers before processing contacts. Matches only occur if both parties participate, and phone numbers are stored as hashed pairs, ensuring privacy. Users can also delete their uploaded contacts and opt out anytime. This approach is praised as a model for other services to follow.
A significant development in semiconductor technology comes from China, where a Shenzhen team reportedly completed a working prototype of an Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine, a critical tool for chip manufacturing. This machine was built by former ASML engineers through reverse engineering and using parts from older ASML machines. While the Chinese government aims for working chips by 2028, experts believe 2030 is more realistic. Despite this progress, China remains behind the technology curve, as EUV machines have been in serial production since 2018, and surpassing ASML’s capabilities will be challenging.
The e-bike industry is facing turmoil, with Red Bike filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after raising $329 million but running out of funds. Similarly, Cowboy, another major e-bike brand, is being acquired by the French Rebirth Group due to financial struggles. Cowboy experienced a revenue boom during the pandemic but has since seen a sharp decline while losses remained high. The video creator, a Cowboy rider, expresses hope for a recovery and considers making a deep dive video into the boom and bust cycle of major e-bike companies.
In other tech news, Apple released Sharp, an open-source tool that converts 2D images into 3D-like visuals with interactive perspectives, outperforming competing tools. The EU Commission proposed reducing the phase-out target for combustion engine cars from 100% to 90% by 2035, a move criticized amid strong EV launches by European brands. Mozilla appointed a new CEO who aims to position the company as a trusted software provider emphasizing user agency and clear AI controls, though his comments on AI sparked some public backlash. Microsoft released a Copilot ad showcasing impressive tasks, but tests revealed the AI failed to perform any of them, raising concerns about false advertising.
Finally, several other updates include Deutsche Bank and PostBank adopting Wero, a new European cross-bank payment system similar to India’s UPI, Intel appointing a former Trump economic adviser as head of government affairs, and Apple opening iOS to third-party app stores in Japan following government pressure. Apple also introduced an easier battery replacement process for the M1 14-inch MacBook Pro. Meanwhile, iRobot, the maker of Roomba vacuum cleaners, filed for bankruptcy due to competition and innovation gaps, with its Chinese supplier expected to take control. The video concludes with a recommendation to try Brilliant, an interactive learning platform for engineering and science topics.